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In both the education and the S.T.E.A.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) industries there is a pipeline issue in regards to diverse students and employees.

A lack of diversity in the education pipelines creates a lack of diverse employees in the technology and creative industries. Building the education pipelines is a critical step in building diversity.

In a recent program we conducted at A. Mario Loiederman Middle School, we expanded on our already successful approach that has exposed coding and game design to over 1000 students.

In 1996 Da Great Deity Dah comic book and music character was introduced to audiences in Washington, DC and areas worldwide thru the release of the Life or Death, EP on vinyl. With this independent release we introduced the concept of hip-hop converging with comic books. Over the course of 3 years, 3 additional projects were introduced. These projects will eventually reach 6 continents and over 30 countries.

The production of these projects occurred in Ward 8 in Washington, DC. Our company CTO, Wole Idowu, was born in 1996 in Ward 8 in DC. He was exposed to this content which featured scientific and cosmic based rhymes and visuals.

This will eventually have an influence on his development which will culminate with graduation from High School at 15. Wole will attend and graduate from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in Computer and Electrical Engineering, and 2 minors in business by age 20.

Currently Wole Idowu is not only CTO of Toyz Electronics, LLC, A Carnegie Mellon University Startup, he is also a software engineer for a major financial institution.

PROGRAM

The question we pose is if Wole Idowu can succeed from exposure and nurturing utilizing this content, can other students in similar situations and environments also succeed?

Our hypothesis is that in the process, we will address the pipeline and diversity issues in education and employment. To build upon this analysis we added more components to our program.

At Loiederman we used an illustration of a recent project for Da Great Deity Dah which involved artist from; Europe, Asia, Latin America, and North America. For the project we created a Global Alliance project and comic book panel which unites 5 continents, using hip-hop culture and comic book illustrations.

For this project there is also a 3D action figure USB, which students also got exposed to.

Students were also exposed to wearable technology via an Android Smartwatch CTO Wole Idowu has been developing.

Students were also exposed to global cultures. In addition students were thought how to; create their own characters, write their own stories, record audio, and create animated characters. They also got introduced to 3D modelling. In that process, they were exposed to coding and game design. Students also added their created assets into a VR game. This gives them exposure to a potential career in S.T.E.A.M.

EXECUTION

Music production partner Miguel Richardson, who had worked on Da Great Deity Dah project in the 90’s, conducted the music production and audio technology education services. Damola Idowu, the creator of Da Great Deity character conducted the illustration, and storytelling education services. CTO Wole Idowu conducted the coding and game development education services.

RESULTS

Our program worked splendidly. Several students were highly engaged and got a chance to express their creativity in a new way. One student was able to create and write about over 20 of her own unique characters.

Another student was able to build upon a video game he had been wanting to develop and now add more components to what he had been imagining.

Another student was able to create new characters using voices and sounds he was able to make and record with the assistance of Miguel Richardson. Several other students were able to contribute their own innovation to the workshop.

All students got exposed to 3D animation and modeling and were able to add components to the World Tour video game based on Da Great Deity Dah global travels. The World Tour game is created by CTO Wole Idowu.

The takeaways is students got exposed to global cultures, and next generation technology. They also built confidence in their own ability, creativity, and innovation. This workshop brought awareness of potential career opportunities for the future that could be exciting and fulfilling.

CONCLUSION

With funding and partnerships our program can have a disruptive impact on the current structure of human development for jobs of the future. For example, introduction to 3D and animation leads to work on AutoCAD which has application in several industries.

VR is also a great tool to learn for employment in several industries as is audio production and the ability to create creative content.

Amazon recently created a second Headquarters in the local DC area. These skills will help create a pipeline for jobs they will offer along with several other companies locally in several related industries. Special thanks to Natalia Seo of Everymind who worked with us to implement this program at Loiderman.

CTO Wole Idowu has since used assets he showed the students to begin development on a first of its kind hip-hop brake dancing game, B-Boyism based on the global project mentioned before.

The song feature a World Champion DJ from Belgium, a Lyricist and a producer from South Korea and, Da Great Deity Dah Himself representing USA and North America. Here are clips of the demo.

Toyz Electronic’s Toyz STEAM program was live at Parkland Middle School! For our 3 Day program, students were able to listen to the character’s history and use that to build their own story integrating the character and creating their own character. They also wrote their own story as a team, worked together to narrate it, and create a visual for the character they created. For the program, Students were able to color a black and white inked version of our comic book images. In addition, they created their own character that was scanned and integrated into a virtual reality video game.

Students were taught how to code and develop games using Unity. Part of the exercise was integrating the images they created into the game along with audio from the story they narrated. The narration was done with music from the Carnegie Mellon sessions as students picked the track they wanted to use for the narration and worked with music production instructor Miguel Richardson to refine it for the learning exercise. Students who wrote the script served as producers and were able to guide students doing the voice over. Students were also exposed to music production and learned about technology equipment and how to add sound effects to their production. Students at the end of the workshop got to experience their creation in VR using Oculus Rift paired with a capable Windows PC we built.

Over a three-day period students learned to work as a team and create an interactive software and multimedia product based on Da Great Deity Dah character using music created with Carnegie Mellon students. Students were also shown an action figure USB of Da Great Deity Dah character. They also saw fashion merchandise in the form of hats and T-shirts and were taught how products were created. They were shown the project with Carnegie Mellon on commercial outlets and were able to learn how professional products get created through this process. The Three-day workshop has several elements to build from. Students were exposed to several career paths along with critical concepts like; teamwork, defined roles, innovation, product creation, writing, coding, visual design, coloring illustrations, character creation, software development, game creation and design. The skills students learned apply to several industries from automotive, software design, film, publishing, radio, TV, literature, engineering and much more. As we continue on, further skills like 3D printing could easily be integrated along with IOT and wearable technology. A smartwatch developed by Wole Idowu was used by the students and they were able to explore the ability to play games on the watch. They were also taught how the games were developed for the watch. With the smartwatch they were also exposed to entrepreneurship as the watch was developed on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University as part of their accelerator project Olympus. This program was a success and is easy to scale to other learning institutions. A video is included above illustrating what has been mentioned in this summary.

This is a weekend long introductory course for STEAM for young students ranging from kids to young adults. The camp will be in the DC metro area (Venue TBA), as well as online. The program begins in June.

This course is a prerequisite such that upon completion, students are able to take another in depth course we offer on the topics from this course.

In this course, students will learn how to create their own game using next-gen tech such as wearable tech and virtual reality. This class will teach participants various STEAM topics throughout the weekend. This class people will create a project involving topics such as:Game Design, Music Production, Visual Arts, Programming, Wearable tech, Signals, Virtual Reality, Web Development, and Gesture Control.

Students will work with teams and collaborate with our music producers and international hip hop artist Da Great Deity Dahto make their own music along with visuals to include for their project.

Da Great Deity Dah collaborating with the Carnegie Mellon Music Department

Students will work with programming languages and gaming engines such as Unity, a premier gaming industry software with 5 billion downloads of Unity built games.

Students interacting with the Toyz Watch and Learning via Virtual Reality

Students will also learn how to develop their project for the latest Virtual Reality systems, including the Oculus Rift and wearable tech via our Toyz Watch, an Android based computer on your wrist that can call, play games, take photos, GPS navigate, play music, surf the web independent of a phone.

In this course, we will also show students how one can use the Toyz Watch as a controller for their games

Every student will be given the Toyz Watch complimentary as a part of the summer camp.

Make sure to reserve your spot today! To stay in tuned, please sign up to our interest form below!

Toyz Electronics, LLC, a Carnegie Mellon University startup, is a technology solutions company bringing personalization and customization to the technology space. We change how humans and computers interact.

We make educational hardware that empowers innovation. We collaborate with creatives across the world to maximize their innovative potential and creativity. Everyone is welcome to our ecosystem from Ages 4 to Adults. We believe anyone can innovate if given the tools and resources

Students from diverse backgrounds, skill levels, ethnicities, universities, genders, and fields of study were able to come to hackathons our CTO hosted at Carnegie Mellon and utilized our technology to develop applications in health, wellness, and gaming to become developers in the growing wearable community.

We have also worked with K-12 students teaching topics ranging from wearables, augmented reality, electronics, design, automotive, programming, robotics, AI, wireless signals, wireless charging and more,

Our programs begin soon!

We will be doing weekend long camps for student to learn, develop and become innovators in their own community

Our topics range from exposing and teaching students to make applications for technology such as wearables and virtual reality, music production, hardware design and basic electronics, web design, visual arts, comic book creation and more!

Join the #ToyzSteam Movement today! Check us out on social media @toyzelectronics

Students from Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School in DC to participate in a coding and VR technology experience at the Washington Auto Show hosted by Owners Illustrated magazine and Toyz Electronics founders.

Washington, DC –Owners Illustrated magazine, a leading urban entrepreneurial lifestyle publication, and Toyz Electronics, LLC, a Carnegie Mellon University startup, will partner to bring an engaging coding and creative technology training for DC Public School students to the Washington Auto Show on January 25th, 2018.

Damola Idowu and son Wole Idowu, a native of Washington, DC, believe that the future of technology is in the hands of DC Public School students today. Of his approach, Damola Idowu states, “Many jobs in the auto industry require coding. Early exposure will be critical to training the workforce of the future. I’m thrilled to be bringing this to the Washington Auto Show.”

“STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education is critically important to the future of our country, not to mention the automotive industry,” said Washington Auto Show President and CEO John O’Donnell. “We are excited to host this initiative at The Washington Auto Show.”

Damola, a Washington Automotive Press Association (WAPA) member, has now partnered with the Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School in DC to empower DC students to get into technology fields and become part of the auto industry in the future. Of the collaboration, Amy Quinn, Director of Teaching and Learning at the Yu Ying public charter school said, “We look forward to this collaboration and future collaborations with Mr. Idowu.”

Wole organizes Innovation Conferences held at Carnegie Mellon University each semester and Miguel Richardson, the music producer who leads the music production portion of these events, will be on hand to engage the students in music technology. Wole will teach the students to code for VR and an Android smart watch called the TZN1 that he is developing on the Carnegie Mellon Campus.

The TZN1 will also play a large role in teaching the students coding as part of a mobile driving game. Students will take pictures using the TZN1 watches and be able to learn a line of code and share the pictures. Wole Idowu states, “I hope to bring a great session at the Auto Show to showcase and for the students at Yu Ying to learn from, grow, and develop their skills to become excellent developers, leaders, and innovators of the future.”

Throughout the entire run of the show, from January 26th through February 4th, multiple VR stations will be set up on the show floor. Additionally, there will be a gaming section where attendees of the Auto Show can play driving focused video games.

Founder and Editor in Chief, Damola Idowu, created Owners Illustrated magazine in the District of Columbia in 2002. He is bringing a proven formula that helped his son, Wole, graduate high school and be featured on CNBC at age 15. Wole, who was raised in Ward 8 DC, started school at age 4 at the World Public Charter School in their Mandarin immersion program and was exposed to technology at an early age. He graduated in 2017 from Carnegie Mellon University with an Electrical and Computer Engineering Degree.

Here’s a write-up of the events we did with our campaign with #HackHarassment. #HackHarassment is a joint initiative is working with Intel, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, and Vox Media with the goal of putting a stop to online harassment, an issue that affects 70% of young adults.

ToyzNation Gaming League, an official Carnegie Mellon Student organization has been hosting several #HackHarassment events involving an international Hip Hop Artist, Carnegie Mellon’s Music Department, Carnegie Mellon’s IDeATe program, professional producers, Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center, and participants from across the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest region coming together to collaborate on how we all can put a stop to online harassment once and for all

With our event in April we continued work on the PSA “Stop the Bullying”. At the event, we shared the lyric sheet and brought a professional music producer who was able to record students thoughts on online harassment that was placed over the original music we created and could be shared over multiple platforms. In addition, we brought people together from diverse backgrounds to experience Intel’s platforms from Virtual Reality with a Skylake gaming system we built for portable computing. We also involved Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center for where people were able to experience games created from diverse group of developers. Our participants ranged from a variety of ethnicities, ages, genders, disciplines, universities and majors coming from Ohio and the Washington DC area along with students from Pittsburgh. This included young K-12 students participating also.

This campaign is an ongoing thing. We hosted a smaller second event the week after. We continued the discussion with with a gaming event and an engaging discussion between students on how they can collaborate with others to end online harassment, particularly in the online gaming community.

Our 4th TNGL Weekend: Hackathon and Innovation Conference in February was one of our most engaging and diverse event yet. We had participants from the D.C., Ohio and the Pittsburgh area. With this event we set to show anyone can be an innovator given the resources and incentives. We hosted guest speakers and sessions from Autodesk, Google, EA Sports, Def Jam Recordings, Da Great Deity Dah, Cleveland Clinic, Owners Illustrated, The Entertainment Technology Center and the Future Interfaces Group who engaged with students to help them shape their vision

Autodesk held an API talk along with a live demo session teaching students how to utilize Fusion 360, Maya, and Mudbox by experienced professionals Brian Ekins and Housein Cornell. In addition, there was onsite student led session with Fusion 360 and help throughout the event provided by Lucas Ewing, Program Manager at Autodesk EDU. He along with the additional sessions were able to help guide students to create and learn how to create 3D designs for the first time.

We held a very engaging Google Hangout Q&A session with the Google Android Wear team and Sensors team where students were able to ask questions about their application ideas and get a better understanding of how to turn their visions into a reality. Students were also able to develop their wearable app ideas using the Toyz Watch, an Android 5.1 smartwatch available to students.

We had a live music production session with DJs, Professional Producers teaching students how to create professional music. We also brought Hip Hop Artist Da Great Deity Dah, who with the Music Department of Carnegie Mellon helped us create our PSA for our #HackHarassment campaign called “Stop The Bullying” at the Vlahakis Recording Studio at Carnegie Mellon onsite. The PSA has then since added student voices and is being shared throughout the internet and across the world.

Gierad Laput of the Future Interfaces Group gave a captivating speech to students to open their minds of the utilization of wearables and sensors that are in products we use today. With his talk, he showed students how wearables can expand from their original intentions and how this can be done utilizing what we have today showcasing his research, done at the Future Interfaces Group lab.

We had a very engaging and inspiring session with Thomas Corbett who spoke about the future of gaming along with the need of diversity in the industry. He gave a wonderful talk that connected the diversity of teams to the ideas created and thus a more encompassing and creative game that can transcend what can be made by a team of similar minds.

John Dzurik form the Cleveland Clinic gave a informative and stimulating talk about the connection between health, medicine and technology and the innovation (and opportunities) that comes from it. It was engaging for students to see the intersection between these fields and were able to ask questions to an award winning veteran with experiences in entrepreneurship, technology and medicine about opportunities available to them.

Quincy Taylor, who works in various capacities with Def Jam records, spoke once again to students at length about the recording industry covering topics such as artist management and pursuing a career in the recording industry. He was able to guide students who had ideas in both music and technology on how they can utilize their talents and ideas to create game changing applications for the evolving music industry

Damola Idowu was able to give an exhilarating talk on hip hop and business, with experiences both as a veteran international Hip Hop artist and speaking on building his own successful company, starting with a flyer to creating Owners Illustrated, the premier magazine for Hip Hop and Urban Entrepreneurship covering topics in Music, Automotive, Technology, Gaming and more.

We wrapped up our event with a talk with Roy Harvey, GM of Madden NFL at EA Sports where students were able to get a better understanding of the gaming industry and game development process. Students were also able to ask questions they had involving gaming and showcase some of the apps they’ve been working on throughout the hackathon.

Students were able to develop interdisciplinary and creative apps combining talents, including an application to be utilized for wearables allowing one to control music through gestures only, i.e. a Gesture DJ. Throughout the event students were also able to interact and play with Virtual Reality and Console gaming with the Oculus, XBox One and HTC Vive. Da Great Deity Dah was able to bring 2 of his producers who used the equipment provided by the IDEATE department, along with an extensive amount of technology they transported from DC to teach students how to produce music

Students continued their apps and we are excited to see what is to come in our next events as we move forward throughout the year. Please stay tuned!

The November 2016 Toyz Nation Gaming League (TNGL) hackathon weekend was a tremendous success!

It was our most diverse event yet, with various elements encompassing Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virtual Reality and Game Development, Music Production, Wearable technology, and career development. Thanks to the support of Jelena Kovacevic, head of the ECE department, Drew Davidson, Tom Corbett, from I.D.E.A.T.E, Jesse from the Music department, Oculus, Jecolia from the Sensors team at Google, my dad who brought his music producers Zack, and Miguel, along with his colleague Quincy Taylor from DefJam records, and most of all the students who came from far and wide we were able to boast a unique blend of art and technology.

Students were able to learn about music production, create beats, and develop virtual reality games for Oculus using VR capable rigs transported from the DC Area.

Many students also got to experience the Android Studio environment for the first time using the Android 5.1 smartwatch which my startup Toyz Electonics has been developing on campus. Several students were able to ask Jecolia questions about their application ideas via a live briefing and Q & A session from Google headquarters.

Additionally, students developed apps as diverse as cooking directions with Youtube integration and a medical monitor app, both supported by our wearable technology. This feat was impressible, especially since some teams had never been exposed to Android development.

In the 90s my dad had a hip-hop group Da Great Deity Dah and currently his music is sold in over 30 countries spanning 5 continents. He was able to bring 2 of his producers who used the equipment provided by the IDEATE department, along with an extensive amount of technology they transported from DC to teach students how to produce music. For many students this was their first time with such an experience. It was truly interdisciplinary in nature: engineering students recognized their artistic potential while making remixes to songs from my father’s hip-hop classic Declaration of War, released in 1998. Quincy Taylor, who works in various capacities with Def Jam Records spoke to students at length about the recording industry covering topics such as artist management and pursuing a career in the recording industry.

TNGL entertained participants from DC area schools which included University of Maryland, George Mason University, and Trinity College. Additionally, local schools participated such as the University of Pittsburgh. The exciting thing about the virtual reality games was that students were able to play test games that were developed at the Hackathon and gave incredible insight to aspiring virtual reality game developers. We also incorporated social media via live streaming so potential students who were visiting were able to participate in the event. Followup Job Opportunities in both Music and Engineering fields were available to participants who attended this event. Overall this event was a huge success and we look forward to our next event slated for February 2017!

Here are some photos attached below, for a link of all photos and videos (which will continuously be updated) please click this link! Thank you!